Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Event, Industry & Commerce

Location

826 203, Austerlitz, NY 12037, USA

Lat/Long

42.323558, -73.546324

Grant Recipient

Austerlitz Historial Society

During the American Civil War, Dr. Wright H. Barnes spoke from the balcony of the hotel in Spencertown, New York to recruit volunteers for the Union Army. Lucian Griswold, a Spencertown resident, remembered how the event drew a large crowd in front of the hotel and the street was filled with men, women, and children. Griswold also recounted the eloquent and convincing nature of Dr. Barnes’s address from the hotel’s balcony. Dr. Barnes represented the town of Austerlitz on the Board of Supervisors of Columbia County, and during the Civil War, Dr. Barnes was appointed medical examiner of volunteers for the area. He is recorded as the town correspondent for Austerlitz in the First Annual Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Military Statistics for the State of New York, dated January 26, 1864. Dr. Barnes reported aid afforded by the town, which included a total number of volunteers furnished since April 15, 1861 as 102 men. Griswold, himself a Civil War veteran, attributed the number of volunteers from this area to the efforts of Dr. Barnes and his speech from the balcony of the hotel in Spencertown.

In 1900, the hotel was purchased by Charles H. Chace who continued operation under the name the Center House. In August 1909, the Austerlitz Grange No. 819 purchased the building from Chace. It served as home to the Austerlitz Grange until 1953, when it was sold to Schneider & Nagle Studio, Inc. for three thousand dollars. Over the subsequent years, the property housed various businesses and was eventually developed into apartments. As of 2022, it was operated as a private residential apartment building.